Synapseshttp://synapses.myblog.arts.ac.uk
Inverted ComasSat, 11 Apr 2015 13:25:51 +0000en-GBhourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7.5Modern Scandinavian Design: Timeless, Tasteful, Toughhttp://synapses.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2015/04/11/modern-scandinavian-design-timeless-tasteful-tough/
http://synapses.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2015/04/11/modern-scandinavian-design-timeless-tasteful-tough/#respondSat, 11 Apr 2015 12:29:25 +0000http://synapses.myblog.arts.ac.uk/?p=166It is without doubt that modern Scandinavian design has been widely accepted as an example of an excellent design practice, and it does deserve every single praise and applause it gets. But how do we define what is modern Scandinavian design? It is neither modernism nor post modernism, and it seems artistic, yet not opulent like Art Nouveau. And while there are some “period styles” which can be assigned to some spaces and pieces, most modern Scandinavian designs seem to transcend time.

Scandinavian Armchair

Modernist Armchair

To lay down the basics, modern Scandinavian design is about functionality, much like modernism. Also, like modernism, it emphasizes that form follows function, but with an added espresso shot of form. Modern Scandinavian design also places a larger emphasis on natural materials of quality, rather than synthetic materials, considering that the materials impart character to the design. “To this day, the Scandinavian insists that purpose and function are the first considerations for the use of available materials. After the problem of usefulness is solved, an object should be made attractive enough to please human aesthetic needs.”(Beer, 1975). While this aptly summarizes Scandinavian design, there is more depth and detail involved.

Within the sphere of functionality, a Scandinavian design would also be ecologically friendly, created with a minimal amount of waste production and as far as possibly, locally sourced. As a result of its geographic location and historical situation, which allotted the situation of limited natural materials and a lack of communication with outsiders(Beer, 1975), thus nurturing a race of people to value the environment and their own heritage.

Scandinavian Teapot

Modern teapot from Tesco

And with regard to its aesthetic expression, Scandinavian designs adopt an approach which is “… essentially timeless,… gratifies a multitude of personal tastes… is totally contemporary, yet complements designs from the past.”(Beer, 1975). Its use of simple motifs, geometry, natural forms never impede an objects function, nor does it make it too gaudy or too inconspicuous.

Scandinavian Living Room

While we are still on the topic of aesthetics, a very interesting Scandinavian term is “brukskunst”. It translates to applied art, and is as it claims. It is functional art, which transcends the sanitized forms of modernism into something better, something more beautiful, yet equally functional. “Utility + form + colour + texture + durability + cost – this is the exacting formula…”(Beer, 1975) that is the essence of “brukskunst”.

Another interesting term is “Hygge“. “In essence, “hygge” means creating a warm atmosphere and enjoying the good things in life with good people”(VisitDenmark, 2015). It is the coup de grace of Scandinavian design, and is what makes Scandinavian design so unique. Furniture, spaces, scenarios can all create the feeling of “hygge“.

Hygge in experiences

Hygge in items

To conclude, Scandinavian design is something which incorporates logical, functional thinking, and emotional, aesthetic feeling. It is Modernism 2.0, better, improved and much more pleasant. Putting it up against Dieter Rams’ principles of good design and Wabi-Sabi, one can say that it is something which draws from the best of both worlds,

]]>http://synapses.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2015/04/11/modern-scandinavian-design-timeless-tasteful-tough/feed/0Wabi-Sabi: Everything and nothing at oncehttp://synapses.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2015/03/05/wabi-sabi-everything-and-nothing-at-once/
http://synapses.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2015/03/05/wabi-sabi-everything-and-nothing-at-once/#respondThu, 05 Mar 2015 03:40:30 +0000http://synapses.myblog.arts.ac.uk/?p=154Wabi-Sabi is a very complex design philosophy. It is an aesthetic style, it is a way of life, and it is both journey and destination. While it is the most definitive form of the Japanese design aesthetic and philosophy, there is no way to define it. By defining it, the essence of Wabi-Sabi is lost, and one can only gesticulate at what it is through metaphors and similes. This is not surprising, considering how Wabi-Sabi is based off Buddhist principles. In particular, they are based off the principle of the “Three Marks of Existence”, that is, impermanence, non-self and suffering. While I would like to delve into that, I feel that it would take up a whole article on its own just to explain what these principles are and stand for.

“The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.”. quotes Princess Leia of Star Wars, and that is exactly what is means to define Wabi-Sabi.

As mentioned, Wabi-Sabi can be described with metaphors, and through these metaphors, one can realise how vastly complex Wabi-Sabi is. In Leonard Koren’s book, “Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets and Philosophers.”, there are very interesting comparisons drawn against Modernism, which while stylistically, similar, is vastly different.

Wabi-Sabi, like Modernism, applies to all man-made things and they are both minimalist and abstract. Both Modernism and Wabi-Sabi are easily identifiable, with Modernism being clean and perfect, while Wabi-Sabi being uneven and imperfect. Both, however, are minimal and simple. Their differences, however, sets them worlds apart. If Modernism is a logical worldview, then Wabi-Sabi is about an intuitive worldview.

Wabi-Sabi can be likened to a clay bowl. Open, unfinished and with the content being more important than the vessel, Wabi-Sabi embraces what is is to be, rather than defining what is is to be. It is the hut in the forest that is in harmony with nature, it is the wind in the trees, the clouds in the sky, life itself is Wabi-Sabi.

Understanding Wabi-Sabi is hard, complicated even, however feeling it is simple, intuitive and natural. It is a style that requires one not to think, but to feel.

]]>http://synapses.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2015/03/05/wabi-sabi-everything-and-nothing-at-once/feed/0Design principles of the Far East.http://synapses.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2015/02/20/design-principles-of-the-far-east/
http://synapses.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2015/02/20/design-principles-of-the-far-east/#respondFri, 20 Feb 2015 18:32:48 +0000http://synapses.myblog.arts.ac.uk/?p=146Japanese design has always fascinated people around the world. It is subtle, yet impactful, mysterious yet clear. Based primarily on the concepts of Zen, the Japanese design principles are often more philosophical than physical. They also place a great priority on imperfection and stillness.

The following are 7 Japanese design principles from Garr Reynold’s blog(accessible here at: http://www.presentationzen.com/presentationzen/2009/09/exposing-ourselves-to-traditional-japanese-aesthetic-ideas-notions-that-may-seem-quite-foreign-to-most-of-us-is-a-goo.html). He mentions them as aesthetic principles, but should we look deeper, we will realise that they also qualify as design principles. Without further ado, the seven principles are as follows;

“Kanso (簡素)Simplicity or elimination of clutter. Things are expressed in a plain, simple, natural manner. Reminds us to think not in terms of decoration but in terms of clarity, a kind of clarity that may be achieved through omission or exclusion of the non-essential.”

As mentioned, Kanso extends to more than just visual simplicity. It creates clarity through having less, and can be related to Dieter Rams’ 6th principle of good design; Good design is honest. Kanso, is to be clear by being simple and the 6th principle is to be honest. To convey your message clearly, and without embellishment, that is what Kanso stands for.

“Fukinsei (不均整) Asymmetry or irregularity. The idea of controlling balance in a composition via irregularity and asymmetry is a central tenet of the Zen aesthetic. The enso (“Zen circle”) in brush painting, for example, is often drawn as an incomplete circle, symbolizing the imperfection that is part of existence. In graphic design too asymmetrical balance is a dynamic, beautiful thing. Try looking for (or creating) beauty in balanced asymmetry. Nature itself is full of beauty and harmonious relationships that are asymmetrical yet balanced. This is a dynamic beauty that attracts and engages.”

Fukinsei is rather unique to the Japanese design aesthetic, and can almost be equated with imperfection. It is representative of life, and embraces the incompleteness and imperfection of existence. Parallels can be drawn to the arts and craft movement in the West, where being handmade and having minor imperfections is interesting, but Fukinsei runs deeper. At the same time, Fukinsei does not mean that design should be lopsided, but a balance has to be struck across the entire subject.

“Shibui/Shibumi (渋味) Beautiful by being understated, or by being precisely what it was meant to be and not elaborated upon. Direct and simple way, without being flashy. Elegant simplicity, articulate brevity. The term is sometimes used today to describe something cool but beautifully minimalist, including technology and some consumer products. (Shibui literally means bitter tasting).”

As mentioned by Reynolds, Shibui is likened to the Western concept of Minimalism. In an Eastern context, it could be how the gentle ripples in the water emphasize the beauty of a lotus flower, or how the carefully manicured lines within a Zen Garden create direction and meaning without being significant.

“Shizen (自然) Naturalness. Absence of pretense or artificiality, full creative intent unforced. Ironically, the spontaneous nature of the Japanese garden that the viewer perceives is not accidental. This is a reminder that design is not an accident, even when we are trying to create a natural-feeling environment. It is not a raw nature as such but one with more purpose and intention.”

Shizen, in my opinion, is the the deepest and most philosophical one. It does not mean to replicate nature, nor does it mean to let nature take dominance. It means to CREATE a natural state through human intervention, and thus requires a great affinity with nature itself which can only be attained through a deep understanding and appreciation of nature.(Did that make sense? If not, you need to meditate on it :D)

“Yugen (幽玄) Profundity or suggestion rather than revelation. A Japanese garden, for example, can be said to be a collection of subtleties and symbolic elements. Photographers and designers can surely think of many ways to visually imply more by not showing the whole, that is, showing more by showing less.”

Yugen is a very beautiful principle. It is prevalent in many cultures, such as the veiled dancers of Persian history, or the brief revelation of a wrist or ankle by Geishas to arouse and attract their patrons. It is to tease the viewer or user into imagination by presenting them a small taste of the whole object. It also covers representative elements and symbolism within the Japanese design aesthetic.

“Datsuzoku (脱俗) Freedom from habit or formula. Escape from daily routine or the ordinary. Unworldly. Transcending the conventional. This principles describes the feeling of surprise and a bit of amazement when one realizes they can have freedom from the conventional. Professor Tierney says that the Japanese garden itself, “…made with the raw materials of nature and its success in revealing the essence of natural things to us is an ultimate surprise. Many surprises await at almost every turn in a Japanese Garden.””

Datsuzoku is a simple principle. It represents a surprise, something unexpected. Buildings floating on water, animals frolicking in the absence of people, that is what Datsuzoku expresses. Truly, it is the escape from routine and the ordinary.

“Seijaku (静寂)Tranquility or an energized calm (quite), stillness, solitude. This is related to the feeling you may have when in a Japanese garden. The opposite feeling to one expressed by seijaku would be noise and disturbance. How might we bring a feeling of “active calm” and stillness to ephemeral designs outside the Zen arts?”

Seijaku, as Reynolds mentions, is about stillness and solitude. It is about both external and internal peace. One could liken it to meditation, but how could we represent this stillness and tranquility in our modern world?

A fleeting, permeating essence that flows and envelops, an enchantingly beautiful memory, a slow, elegant dance and the soft touch of life and the world; that is Japanese design.

]]>http://synapses.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2015/02/20/design-principles-of-the-far-east/feed/0No one knows what it means, but it’s provocative.http://synapses.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2015/02/12/no-one-knows-what-it-means-but-its-provocative/
http://synapses.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2015/02/12/no-one-knows-what-it-means-but-its-provocative/#respondThu, 12 Feb 2015 03:35:58 +0000http://synapses.myblog.arts.ac.uk/?p=144Good design is elusive. It morphs and changes from culture to culture, time to time and place to place. However, the presence of good design awards points to the idea that there is a universally agreed sort of design excellence. I personally think that these design awards represent a snapshot of what is considered good design at the time, the zeitgeist of good design, if you will.

So with that in mind, what are the criteria for good design? We see products being judged based on many factors such as sustainability(quite a popular one nowadays), form, function. Yet, what is one mans junk may be another mans treasure. With each shift in culture, place and time, the scale in which these criteria are measured against changes ever so slightly. As such, I feel that to discern what is truly good design, we have to cross examine the three governing facets of time,culture and place.

We start with the first facet, culture. Culture is the ideas, beliefs, customs and behaviour of a particular group of people or society. In my opinion, culture affects design greatly as if it were the material in which what is considered good design for that particular group of people. It is the basis of their design, and it is the reason why different countries have different design priorities.

The next facet to look at is place. Place is similar to culture, but more as if it were a branch on a tree than a different tree itself. Some places may be similar to others, and it is possible to argue that place is a part of culture, but I feel that geographic location is big enough a factor to be considered a facet on its own. This is why we have different styles for the same product, and why we assign “places” to products, e.g. Hokkaido desserts versus Japanese desserts.

The last facet to look at is time. Time governs good design in the form of relative needs. To be more explicit, design from the 1940s and design from the 1950s varied greatly due to the events of the world, specifically, the world war. With that said, perhaps it would be easier to look at time as a sequence of events, rather than a whole chronological period. Thus, the general notion of good design can be divided chronologically into periods such as modernism, post-modernism, so on and so forth.

With that in mind, the next logical step is to look at international design awards and analyze the winners within a particular category, picking comparisons based on culture and place, and then comparing it against previous winners to put time into context.

]]>http://synapses.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2015/02/12/no-one-knows-what-it-means-but-its-provocative/feed/0Is Spaceship Earth an auto or manual drive?http://synapses.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2015/02/05/is-spaceship-earth-an-auto-or-manual-drive/
http://synapses.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2015/02/05/is-spaceship-earth-an-auto-or-manual-drive/#respondThu, 05 Feb 2015 09:02:33 +0000http://synapses.myblog.arts.ac.uk/?p=140The radio documentary about Richard Buckminister Fuller and his visions for a sustainable, efficient world was exactly as I expected. In my previous post about sustainability, I mentioned that sustainability was about being efficient in usage, as well as being innovated in creation. Fuller is the avatar of those ideals. Although his predictions and inventions were not all sound, their principle was. It was the idea of being so efficient that everybody had a share of the world, although, that sounds a little bit like socialism doesn’t it? But if we look back to modernism and its ideals, we realise that the reason why Fullers’ ideas and concepts didn’t exactly come to fruition are the same as why modernism failed in its ultimate goal; they were too far ahead of their time. But as the 21st century rolls by, we now see, bit by bit, that Fuller was right, and are revisiting his concepts of being efficient and environmentally and socially sustainable. Now, the question is, for the main bulk of us “normal people”, is the operation of spaceship Earth a manual or auto? I personally feel that a manual drive would result in a more efficient journey; what I mean is, we need to take charge of our own changes and actively move towards sustainability. whereas taking the “auto” approach, we would let the scientists and engineers find a solution, while we continue to folly. That said, what can one man do? In response to that, we can ask the question, “what did one man do?”, and look at Fuller for inspiration. We can all contribute in some way, actions, words, or thoughts. And actively taking a hard look at ourselves and moving towards sustainability would result in a more comfortable journey on our spaceship Earth.
]]>http://synapses.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2015/02/05/is-spaceship-earth-an-auto-or-manual-drive/feed/0Curating Disobediencehttp://synapses.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2015/02/04/curating-disobedience-2/
http://synapses.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2015/02/04/curating-disobedience-2/#respondWed, 04 Feb 2015 18:46:09 +0000http://synapses.myblog.arts.ac.uk/?p=137At the end of the event, I gained a warm, fuzzy feeling that the world is kinda-sorta okay again. Without much ado, here are the pictures of the event, as curated by me. (Sorry for some grainy photos, I didn’t have my camera on me ):) All in all, I loved the experience greatly!

]]>http://synapses.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2015/02/04/curating-disobedience-2/feed/0Welcome to Lagos and Goodbye to wastehttp://synapses.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2015/02/04/welcome-to-lagos-and-goodbye-to-waste/
http://synapses.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2015/02/04/welcome-to-lagos-and-goodbye-to-waste/#respondWed, 04 Feb 2015 17:57:08 +0000http://synapses.myblog.arts.ac.uk/?p=97After watching the documentary, I feel that the people living in Lagos are an extremely resourceful group of people, and all this is driven by strong needs. As the saying goes, “There is no greater driver of technology than war”, and at it’s core essence, these Nigerians are essentially fighting a war for existence. Their technology is primitive, but effective, and each and every man in the system looks to waste in order to find his niche, his gold mine.

We see how things are not wasted, and people learn to adapt to what they are given, and this is extremely prevalent in the slaughter yard. People use every part of the cow they kill; flesh is eaten, hooves into shoes, blood into animal feed, even the contents of the stomach turned into fertilizer, literally nothing is wasted.

We can draw parallels to our more advanced society, as well, with recent technology focusing on material efficiency, recycling and other aspects of sustainability. While our inventions and innovations are more sophisticated than theirs, it is essentially the same thing, people striving to make their own world more livable.

At the end of the documentary, I was left feeling ashamed of the waste I produce on a daily basis, and was inspired to look more into sustainability.

]]>http://synapses.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2015/02/04/welcome-to-lagos-and-goodbye-to-waste/feed/0The perfect(?) 10.http://synapses.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2015/01/22/the-perfect-10/
http://synapses.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2015/01/22/the-perfect-10/#respondThu, 22 Jan 2015 08:47:22 +0000http://synapses.myblog.arts.ac.uk/?p=95I have always found myself aligned to Dieter Rams’s ten principles of good design. But after last week’s class, I realized that we all interpret it in different ways, and thus it instigated me to analyze and break down what these 10 principles truly mean. Here is what I understand:

1. Good design is innovative:

What does being innovative mean? Is it being first in your field? Or is it seeing things in a new way? I feel that it is a combination of both. It is both reviewing what is done and improving it through unexpected and new methods. It could be through the use of materials, technology, or even simply a different application. These all represent innovation.

2. Good design makes a product useful:

To be useful is to be relevant to it’s intended use. As the ancient conundrum goes, “Could God create a stone he couldn’t lift?”, can a designer intentionally design a product to be useless, so that it would fulfill it’s function of being useless? While that seems to be a pointless endeavour, I believe it is what society considers modern art.

3. Good design is aesthetic:

The most misunderstood one of the ten. To be aesthetic is to be beautiful, and as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, it varies from person to person. However, I feel that Dieter Rams meant it in a form follows function manner. As evident form his designs, he creates an extremely minimal, functional piece of work, and uses colour, shape and form to make it more pleasing to the eye.

4 Good design makes a product understandable:

To make a product understandable is to make it intuitive, and in the words of Kenya Hara, it is to fall within the boundaries of “affordance”. That means to say that the circumstances afford for the existence of such an action or item, i.e. you would not walk on water as you would on land, and vice-versa.

5 Good design is unobtrusive:

There was some confusion in class about what being obtrusive meant last week. I think that people are confused between being obtrusive and being ornamental. In the aspect of ornamentation, it could be nice to have some ornamentation, but there is the term “too much”, and “too much” is too much, that’s why it’s called “too much”.(That may have been too many too much-es)

6 Good design is honest:

I personally like this one a lot. Never overselling a product and never underselling it’s capabilities.

7 Good Design is thorough down to the last detail:

This is quite straightforward. Everything has to be thought out. Be it a screw in an airplane or the kerning in your text, good design dictates that these be considered.

8 Good design is environmentally friendly:

Another one of confusion. To be environmentally friendly requires us see the meta-mechanics of the world. If you considered simple “eco-solutions”, it would not only be ineffective, it could even work against you. A great example is the Strata.

9 Good design is long lasting:

To be long lasting is quite relative. If you made a piece of tissue you could wash and reuse, say, 3 times, you’re better off designing a handkerchief. However, if you made that piece of tissue able to absorb a larger amount of fluids, then you could probably blow your nose thrice on one and thus render it longer lasting than it’s peers.

10 Good design is as little design as possible:

This is my favourite. As the old adage goes, “Don’t fix something that isn’t broken.”. Good design IS fixing the problems, AND keeping what was already working and familiar to people in good working order.

As we can now see, the ten principles are so vague that they can fit into any situation, yet so specific, that there is a right and wrong answer to a design question. There are also many similarities across cultures, but I will delve into that in the future.

So, after the stickers were designed and sent for print, I started to think about the presentation of our work within the space we was given. We decided on posters and flyers, civil revolution style, and we ended up with an infographic poster and matching flyers. The posters were mechanically printed and were well finished. The flyers, however, were screen printed on newsprint to recreate a “Secret Rebellion” effect. Additionally, I rushed the print and cut, not using laystops to arrange the print nor measurments to cut so as to further reinforce it’s effect.

Display of stickers and flyers

It was a experience of constant change as I modified the space throughout the day in accordance to how users responded to the display, and the following points are my observation;

-Users do not interact with a space if it seems too neat.

-Users in groups are more likely to interact with artworks

-After prompting by me, users felt obliged to interact with the work

– When told about how the flyers were screen printed and therefore unique, the users desired them even more.

-Crowds draw crowds.

Added on the second day.

The users were quite hesitant at first, just looking at the work and picking up the flyers, but putting them back after. Thus, I added the note on the left, and noticed that more users kept the flyers and stickers that they made.

I had initally placed the flyers, stickers and pens in neat partitions, and noticed that users thought they weren’t supposed to touch it, as if it was intentionally placed in that untouchable state. responding to that, I messed up the table, placed the flyers, stickers and pens all over the table, and people started to touch, move and interact more.

Through this, I learnt about the subtleties of lines and formality, mess and friendliness.

We intended to have the stickers manipulate the space, turning it from a simple gallery to a place of discussion, but in hindsight, perhaps that was too lofty a goal in the context of this country. I personally had many deep and insightful discussions with the people who interacted with my work, but I did not see any other strangers interact with one another. Perhaps the stickers, when used within a situation of forced interaction, could net a better effect.

At the end of the day, I was quite satisfied with the outcome of my work, both in execution and the responses users gave to my work. The next post will show the users interacting with the work and some really unexpected beliefs!

You are what you believe in. We feel the best suited activity to compliment the Disobedient objects exhibition would emphasize the importance of our beliefs no matter where we come from or what role we play in society. Our beliefs bring us together.

“Hi, I believe…” simply replaces the iconic, “Hi, my name is..” sticker with the titular phrase, creating a clear conversation topic, creating opportunities for change to be made through the gathering of like-minded individuals, in the activity space and online.

This is quite possibly the most amazing opportunity I have had in my life thus far. A chance to work with the V&A and have my work displayed in an event was like a dream come true. I remember when I received the news, I ran around my flat jumping and yelling, and banged on the doors of all my flatmates! I literally could not contain my excitement, and thus started my journey into graphic design.

I started with the idea of a series of mini picket signs which the visitors to the V&A could pick up, write something in and then bring around with them through the rest of the event. I wanted to create a scenario where everyone was protesting about different things and create a situation where the like-minded could come together and converse. This was soon scrapped due to concerns of littering and the idea of having to hold up a sign for however long you were there was quite unappealing.

Thus, I asked Celine Loh(amazing person, amazing ideas) a fellow student to work with me on the project. We explored ideas of creating a pick and drop with generic thoughts so users could have a fun photo moment with it, then leave it in the space after, but the possibility of theft made it not too economical. We then moved on to the idea of introduction stickers, where instead of writing your name, you write your beliefs, and thus, the project commenced.

Throughout the project, we experimented with different typefaces and kerning to create different visual effects. We also experimented with colours and legibility, sizing as well as layout. At the end of the day, we created 19 prototypes and finally chose the one displayed above. So to avoid a boring wall of text, attached below are the different incarnations of our sticker, and the driving ideas behind them and why they weren’t chosen in the end.

V1: Not selected because of the text being not legible enough.

V2: Tried to go for a playful “Hello”. Not chosen because there were better ones.

V3: Adjusted the spacing between words. Not chosen because there were better ones.